This blog is dedicated to the many many Europeans who, despite continuous disinformation campaigns, do not believe the worst of the Jews (malign and secret Jewish power); who do not disguise anti-Semitism behind the language of anti-Zionism; and who know that Israel embodies the best in democracy.

Sunday, 30 August 2009

From the paper edition of Norway’s largest daily Verdens Gang (VG). Notice how the Ministry of Justice Section Chief feared that taking in more children would encourage anti-Semitism. Oddly reminiscent of Dagsavisen’s Mr. Iversen, who the other day warned that Israeli reaction to Daniel Boström’s blood-libel story was rabid and might encourage anti-Semitism. Mr. Iversen even had the audacity to remind that Israel needs friends in Europe now more than ever, and should be careful not to push them away.

Oh Norway, beloved Norway, we deserve better than this.

"Few children to Norway

BERGEN (VG) Just before WWII broke out England generously received 10 000 Jewish children who were sent to safety by nervous parents in Germany and neighbouring countries.

Norway received only 37 children, a number limited due to the fears of prominent Norwegians that there would be too many jews here.

Section chief Carl Platou in the Ministry of Justice was afraid that the children with time could awaken a sprouting anti-Semitism. The danger of getting stuck with the children, as he wrote, was large:

"We must take into account that a larger number of them will remain in Norway and will constitute a Jewish strain in the people and in commerce", he wrote."

Friday, 28 August 2009

"Palestinians living in Gaza are being treated worse then animals in a zoo. Ireland must do everything we can to end Israel’s collective punishment of civilians, which is a flagrant breach of international law." (Justin Kilcullen, director of Trócaire - Trócaire press release, 25/01/2008)___________

DUBLIN, Ireland (JTA) – A major Irish NGO that trains activists to oppose Jewish settlements is cutting back on its West Bank activity due to budget cuts.

Trócaire, a Catholic aid agency that is one of Ireland’s largest and most influential NGOs, announced it will reduce its presence in the West Bank following massive cuts in the Irish government’s overseas aid budget and a substantial drop-off in private donations. The group has been active in Gaza and the West Bank since 2002.

In Ireland, the group has used its public profile to campaign against the West Bank security fence, Jewish housing in the West Bank and in eastern Jerusalem, and Israeli military action against Hamas in Gaza. Earlier this year, Trocaire called for the suspension of EU-Israel Association Agreement.

According to its most recent public accounts, the organization spends approximately $1.07 million per year on its Palestinian-related activities.

The Irish government cut its support of Trócaire by 22 percent. Private donations are down 10 percent, the group said.___________

Justin Kilcullen, Director of Trócaire, the official overseas development agency of the Catholic Church in Ireland, AND head of CONCORD, the Brussels-based powerful European confederation of 1,600 NGOs across 21 countries for relief and development (the European Union generously provides funds to Trócaire and CONCORD) wrote:

"Last December I turned up at a border crossing leading from Israel to the infamous Gaza strip as part of a delegation of Catholic development agencies. I was looking forward to the visit, to seeing first-hand the situation in which thousands of Palestinians were living. But four hours later I walked away, together with half the group, refused entry by Israeli security because our papers for entry did not have the required approvals. While the Palestinians living within this small piece of land could not get out, I could not get in. (…)

Over 3,000 journalists are expected to descend on the Gaza strip in the coming days to watch the dismantling of the 17 settlements that have been occupied by roughly 8,000 Israeli settlers since the war in 1967."

"The grand mufti delivered a talk to the imams of the Bosnian SS division in 1944, and was a key Islamic supporter of Nazi Germany's destruction of European Jewry." Source: article by Benjamin Weinthal, JPost

The publicly funded Multicultural Center's (Werkstatt der Kulturen) decision to remove educational panels of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Hajj Muhammad Amin al-Husseini, who was an ally of Adolf Hitler, from an exhibit, sparked outrage on Thursday among a district mayor, the curator of the exhibit, and the Berlin Jewish community.

The curator, Karl Rössler, told The Jerusalem Post that it is a "scandal" that the director of the Werkstatt, Philippa Ebéné, sought to censor the exhibit.

"One must, of course, name that al-Husseini, a SS functionary, participated in the Holocaust," said Rössler.

The exhibit covers the "The Third World during the Second World War" and three exhibit panels of 96 are devoted to the mufti's collaboration with the Nazis. The grand mufti delivered a talk to the imams of the Bosnian SS division in 1944, and was a key Islamic supporter of Nazi Germany's destruction of European Jewry.

Ebéné denied that there was an "agreement " reached with the local German-Muslim community to shut down the exhibit. She termed media queries regarding an agreement as "Eurocentric." She told the Post that the exhibit was intended as a "homage to soldiers from African" countries who fought against the Nazis.

When asked about her opposition to the inclusion of the mufti panels, she asked, "was there ever a commemoration event in Israel to honor the [African] soldiers?"

Rössler was notified last Friday that Ebéné wanted to take out the panels dealing with the grand mufti, but he rejected her demand to remove them. Meanwhile, the exhibit in its uncensored version has been relocated to the Ufer Hallen gallery.

Maya Zehden, a spokeswoman for the 12,000-strong Berlin Jewish community, told the Post that Ebéné's rejection of the exhibit showed "intolerance," and a director who is "incapable of acting in a democratic" manner. Zehden urged that the Berlin government consider replacing Ebéné as director. Zehden also sharply criticized Günter Piening, Berlin's commissioner for integration and migration, for defending Ebéné's decision to censor the exhibit.

Piening told the large daily Tagesspiegel that, "We need, in a community like Neukölln, a differentiated presentation of the involvement of the Arabic world in the Second World War." Zehden termed his statement "an appeasement attempt" to ignore the fact that "there was no official resistance from the Arabic world against the persecution of Jews" during the Shoah.

She accused Piening of showing a false tolerance to German-Arabs in the neighborhood by not wanting to deal with disturbances from the local community. Piening issued conflicting statements to the Post. While denying his statement to the Tagesspiegel, he said, however, that his comment was stripped out of a context of quotes. He said the "reason" for the removal of the grand mufti panels dealt with a "misunderstanding of the background of the exhibit."

In an e-mail to the Post, Heinz Buschkowsky, the district mayor in Neukölln, where the exhibit was originally planned, wrote, it is a sign of "anticipatory obedience to avoid probable protests. I do not consider this position to be good."

He added that Piening's statement is a "repression of the facts dealing with anti-Semitism." The district mayor wrote that the center by its own "claim to stand for freedom, tolerance, and culture should be careful not to set off suspicion that it is imposing censorship."

Wednesday, 26 August 2009

"Diakonia is more a lobby group with a clear political agenda for the Middle East than a Christian aid organization. [...] In one single month, October 2008, Diakonia sponsored 10 articles in the Swedish media, nine of which dealt with the world's only Jewish country." (Ilya Meyer, Equal value of all human life?, Jerusalem Post, December 6, 2008)

NGO Monitor's "was sent to officials in Diakonia and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). Diakonia responded that they would provide no comment; SIDA did not reply."

Diakonia is Sweden’s largest humanitarian NGO, receiving most of its budget from the Swedish government. Some of the organization’s programs appear to be genuine and important humanitarian projects. Diakonia’s Civil Society and International Humanitarian Law (IHL) programs overtly promote the Palestinian narrative, and fuel the conflict. Attributes "structural problems" in the conflict solely to the "continuing of the occupation," the "building of the Wall," and "the fragmentation of the Palestinian territory." The IHL website promotes a so-called "right to resist" and delegitimizes Israel’s right to self defense.

* By promoting a "right to resist" (meaning terrorism) and delegitimizing Israel’s right to self-defense, the Civil Society and International Humanitarian Law (IHL) programs exploit and misrepresent international law.

* The IHL Program’s International Advisory Council is populated almost entirely with PLO advisors, Palestinians, and anti-Zionist Jewish activists.

* While some of the organization’s programs appear to be genuine and important humanitarian projects, the vast majority of resources are devoted to political campaigns, including a submission to the Goldstone Commission vilifying Israel and delegitimizing its right to defend itself against rocket attacks.

* Diakonia’s repetition of the Palestinian position refers to the "continuing of the occupation," the "building of the Wall," and "the fragmentation of the Palestinian territory" as "structural problems” behind the conflict. The pre-1967 history of terror, war and rejection of Israel’s right to exist are erased.

*The tendentious international law activities, including the Humanitarian Policy & Law Forum at Harvard University, receive more funding than any other program related to the region, and represent the only such political example in Diakonia’s worldwide activities.

* Enactment of NGO Monitor’s recommendations will provide more balanced coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Diakonia will also better serve the interests of the Palestinians, who deserve real help, not radical posturing.

* This report was sent to officials in Diakonia and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). Diakonia responded that they would provide no comment; SIDA did not reply.

"Diakonia is more a lobby group with a clear political agenda for the Middle East than a Christian aid organization.... In one single month, October 2008, Diakonia sponsored 10 articles in the Swedish media, nine of which dealt with the world's only Jewish country." (Ilya Meyer, Equal value of all human life?, Jerusalem Post, December 6, 2008)

Monday, 24 August 2009

"Greek media singled out Israel for criticism, omitting references to the other partner country in the exercise, the US. Eleftheros headlined its report "Israel questions our sovereignty over the Aegean" while Vradyni said: "Israelis ‘baptise’ Kastellorizo as ‘Turkish’".

The Israeli embassy in Athens has responded to criticism in the Greek media that Israel was taking Ankara’s part in the Greek-Turkish airspace dispute by saying that a reference in an online statement about a joint military exercise taking place in "Turkish" territory was an error.

Israel said that it had no role in the Greek-Turkish airspace dispute, according to the embassy statement, quoted by Greek daily Kathimerini. The controversy arose after an Israeli Defence Force (IDF) website statement referred to a joint military exercise by the United States, Israel and Turkey as to take place off the Dodecanese island of Kastellorizo in Turkish territory. The island is Greek territory. The incident happened amid a massive upsurge of Turkish air force aircraft entering airspace claimed by Greece.

The Israeli embassy said that it regarded Greece and Turkey both "as significant partners and allies... in the region."

Greece has claimed hundreds of incursions by Turkish aircraft into its airspace since the beginning of June 2009, with the Turkish air force jets in some cases flying low over Greek territory and, Athens alleges, endangering flight paths.

Earlier, after the initial IDF statement, Greek media singled out Israel for criticism, omitting references to the other partner country in the exercise, the US. Eleftheros headlined its report "Israel questions our sovereignty over the Aegean" while Vradyni said: "Israelis ‘baptise’ Kastellorizo as ‘Turkish’".

Saturday, 22 August 2009

"Historians who play fair are offended when history is distorted for polical gain. It is especially provocative for historians when the distortions alledgedly are based on one's own work. Kåre Willoch, former premier and outspoken defender of the Palestinian cause, is one such serial abuser. In a deceptive manner he refers to my work on the Arab-Israeli concflict in order to find support for his own allegations (calling me "an outstanding Israeli historian" to boot)." (Benny Morris)

There is unfortunately no "anti-Norwegian" smear campaign to blame. When Norway looks bad it’s because prominent Norwegians, in their endeavours to smear Israel, occasionally go wrong and smear themselves by accident. The most recent example is Anette Trettebergstuen’s attribution of a quote from this site ("In addition to being gay, Trettebergstuen is fiercely secular") to an unnamed "Israeli newspaper", an act of shortsighted Israel-bashing which the Labor parlamentarian is yet to be taken to task for.

Former premier Kåre Willoch however, remains the classic example of how prominent Norwegians manage to smear themselves in the process of making Israel look bad.

For years Mr. Willoch has misquoted and misinterpreted the Israeli historian Benny Morris, the world’s leading authority (truth be told, there are not that many of them) on the Palestinian refugee crisis of 1948. According to Willoch, Morris has himself verified how the Jewish expulsion of Arabs from Palestine was a planned and deliberate event which commenced already prior to 1948. For years Norway’s main pro-Israel organization MIFF has contested Willoch’s claims. In June of this year Benny Morris even visited Norway in order to attend a conference on the Middle East refugee problem, giving Willoch an excellent opportunity to sort things out, yet nothing came of it. Not a single Norwegian journalist attended the conference, and only one reported on it (in DagenMagazinet – a Christian daily).

At some point Morris must have said to himself that "enough is enough", whereupon he wrote an op-ed to Norway’s largest newspaper Verdens Gang. The op-ed ran on Tuesday, here’s an unauthorized NIJ translation of the introduction and conclusion (Read Morris’ book to fill in the gap):

"Willoch’s lies Historians who play fair are offended when history is distorted for polical gain. It is especially provocative for historians when the distortions alledgedly are based on one's own work.

Kåre Willoch, former premier and outspoken defender of the Palestinian cause, is one such serial abuser. In a deceptive manner he refers to my work on the Arab-Israeli concflict in order to find support for his own allegations (calling me "an outstanding Israeli historian" to boot).

In an op-ed in VG on May 25th 2008 and in a speech in Skien on March 6th 2007 Willoch claimed that the Palestinian Arabs were driven from their homes by the Israelis in 1948 through "dreadful massacres".

The massacres were intended to "force as many Palestinians as possible to leave areas which Jewish leaders wanted Israel to have" and were "systematically planned". In Skien Willoch said that "Morris’ theory is that the supreme Jewish leaders wanted it this way".

According to Willoch these massacres occurred prior to the invasion of the Arab armies into Palestine on May 15th – framing it as if the innocent Palestinians were attacked without reason, and that the Arabs invaded (righteously) in order to save them.

This concoction is a full and complete lie – reinforced through deliberate omissions.…

What Willoch spreads in propaganda. Readers who are interested in finding out what really happened, ought to turn towards other sources."

It is a relief to see how Norway’s largest newspaper finally brought this affair to what we must hope is its conclusion. Way to go, VG !

Friday, 21 August 2009

"Now a leading evening newspaper in Sweden, Aftonbladet, is openly fabricating medieval myths of Jewish blood libel by running articles accusing Israeli soldiers of stealing and selling the organs of Palestinians. According to the Council of Europe and the OSCE such allegations classify as traditional anti-Semitic rhetoric’s and were widely spread in the Middle Ages and during the pogroms in the 19th and 20th century."

ECI (European Coalition for Israel) expresses concern over rising anti-Semitism in Sweden and election victories of racist parties in the European Parliament

Brussels 21 August, 2009 - A growing number of anti-Semitic incidents and a general hostility towards the state of Israel in parts of Swedish media have caused the European Coalition for Israel to send an official letter to the Foreign Minister of Sweden Carl Bildt, currently the holder of the EU-presidency, to call for an EU-emergency summit in Stockholm to combat rising anti-Semitism and racism in Europe.

This would not be the first time that the government of Sweden would take the lead in combating anti-Semitism in Europe. In January 2000 the Stockholm International Forum on the Holocaust was organized by the Swedish government to raise awareness about the Holocaust and to prevent it from happening again by educating new generations about the deadly virus of anti-Semitism.

Recent reports from Sweden seem to indicate that the need for education is now more urgent than ever. In March 2009 a Davis Cup match in tennis between Israel and Sweden had to played before an empty stadium due to a decision by the mayor of the host city of Malmö to give in to anti-Semitic threats of violence instead of ensuring public safety at the sports event. Later remarks by the mayor have confirmed that his decision was not primarily made out of security concerns but were mainly politically motivated. The tennis match, nevertheless, drew together violent anti-Israeli demonstrations but a peaceful solidarity rally for Israel was stopped by the police, also for "security reasons".

Now a leading evening newspaper in Sweden, Aftonbladet, is openly fabricating medieval myths of Jewish blood libel by running articles accusing Israeli soldiers of stealing and selling the organs of Palestinians. According to the Council of Europe and the OSCE such allegations classify as traditional anti-Semitic rhetoric’s and were widely spread in the Middle Ages and during the pogroms in the 19th and 20th century.

According to NGO Monitor, an Israeli organization following the activities of NGO's in Israel, the article in Aftonbladet is not an isolated aberration but rather the result of a long campaign of anti-Israeli demonization based on manufactured "evidence" repeated by "Palestinian eyewitnesses".

Earlier this summer it was revealed that the Swedish government was one of several EU countries which were financially supporting a report by an anti-Israeli group called "Breaking the Silence", which accused the Israeli army of war crimes during the Operation Cast Lead.

Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) has a long history of supporting anti-Israeli groups while at the same time being the single largest contributor to the Palestinian authorities. Many of the NGO’s which receive Swedish government funding routinely accuses Israel of "genocide", "ethnic cleansing" and "apartheid" and some compare Israeli military officials to Nazis. These false accusations also fall in to the category of anti-Semitism as defined by OSCE and the Council of Europe.

This rise of anti-Israelism and anti-Semitism in Sweden comes at the same time as the government of Sweden has taken over the rotating presidency of the EU and is in the centre of international media attention. But anti-Israeli incidents are not isolated to the events mentioned in Sweden but are also spreading in other parts of Europe though the case of Sweden is of a particular concern.

The recent victories in the European Parliament elections of openly racist and anti-Semitic parties is another reason why the European Coalition for Israel now calls upon the Swedish EU-presidency to organize an emergency EU-summit in Stockholm with the aim of combating this current tide of anti-Semitism, racism and xenophobia in Europe.

"A new Stockholm International Forum on the Holocaust will be needed to find new and effective European strategies of combating the demons of anti-Semitism and racism", writes ECI director Tomas Sandell in the letter to the Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt and concludes that "there can be no better way to mark the tenth anniversary of the Stockholm International Forum on the Holocaust than to renew the pledge to fight anti-Semitism and to commit to educating the new generations about the tragedies of the past. The Holocaust did not happen over night but started with demonization and false accusations of the Jews. Now it is time to stop the tide in Europe while there is still time".

The Dutch prosecution service had received complaints "about two cartoons published on the website of the Arab-European League (AEL) [founded by Dyab Abou Jahjah, a Lebanese born Belgian Muslim leader] lobby group, one of which allegedly shows Jews denying that the Holocaust happened".

"The Holocaust cartoon "is punishable because it offends Jews on the basis of their race and/or religion."

"The AEL has agreed to remove the cartoon from its Dutch website, said the statement. "If it complies, charges will be provisionally dropped.""

From the Arab-European League: Anne Frank in bed with a paedophile Hitler (in a reference to Marc Dutroux, a Belgian serial killer and criminal, convicted of having kidnapped, tortured and sexually abused six girls during 1995 and 1996, ranging in age from 8 to 19, four of whom he murdered).______________

"Yet contemporary political iconography has matched it with another image of Anne that is equally obscene: A drawing featured in a 2006 Holocaust cartoon contest sponsored by the Iranian newspaper Hamshahri shows a wasted-looking young girl sinking desolately under the bed sheets, while propped up next to her, a bare-chested, swastika-laden Hitler crows, "Write this one in your diary, Anne!" Above the head of the Führer's victim, a wordless bubble registers the grief of the devastated girl.

The fact that this graphic is vile has not kept it from being widely distributed by, among others, the Arab European League, a Belgian-Dutch Islamic political organization headed by the popular leader Dyab Abou Jahjah. In the wake of the Danish cartoon controversy, Jahjah was offering payback, declaring, "Europe too has its sacred cows."

Indeed it does, but Europe's murdered Jews are not among them. Anne Frank, dead before she had turned 16, was no saint but rather one more addition to the mounds of anonymous corpses at Bergen-Belsen. One need not sacralize her memory in order to pay it a decent respect. Until recently, most people have found it proper to do so, but in an age of resurgent anti-Semitism, respect for even the Jewish dead has become a dwindling commodity."

Wednesday, 19 August 2009

"Many of these NGOs routinely accuse Israel of "genocide," "ethnic cleansing," and "apartheid," and some compare Israeli military and political officials to Nazis. This propaganda warfare is waged through the façade of "research" reports which routinely quote Palestinian "testimonies," taken and repeated without question. The path from this demonization to the blood libels of Aftonbladet is short and direct."

Swedish PM Office: "On 1 July 2009, Sweden took over the Presidency of the EU. This means that for six months, Sweden is leading the EU's work and is responsible for moving important EU issues forward." How ironic that Sweden is at the helm of the EU and acts with unique arrogance : "When NGO Monitor sent the draft report to the Swedish embassy in Tel Aviv and government officials in Stockholm, they refused to comment or to engage in a discussion of the implications of these reprehensible activities."__________________

The article in Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet accusing Israeli soldiers of stealing and selling the organs of Palestinians is not a surprise or isolated aberration, but rather the result of a long campaign of anti-Israeli demonization, based on manufactured "evidence" repeated by Palestinian "eyewitnesses".

Applying the strategy adopted at the NGO forum of the 2001 UN Durban conference, the well-financed network of radical non-governmental organizations (NGOs) plays a major role in this demonization, and the Swedish government is a major source of funding. Expressions of modern anti-Semitism and blood libels are the logical results of this activity.

An NGO Monitor research report on Swedish government funding, published on June 29 2009, documented this pattern in detail, and warned of the incitement and anti-Semitic language being used routinely by these organizations. This systematic study examined over 20 major NGOs funded through the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), Diakonia [which is Christian], the multi-national NGO Development Center (NDC), and the Swedish Mission Council (SMR). Many of these NGOs routinely accuse Israel of "genocide," "ethnic cleansing," and "apartheid," and some compare Israeli military and political officials to Nazis. This propaganda warfare is waged through the façade of "research" reports which routinely quote Palestinian "testimonies," taken and repeated without question. The path from this demonization to the blood libels of Aftonbladet is short and direct.

The Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS), run by Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, and receiving funds from the SMR framework, is a prominent example. Barghouthi referred to the Gaza conflict as a "horrendous massacre," and used terms like "ghetto," and "apartheid" on a radio program. PMRS refers to the security barrier as the "apartheid wall," and claimed that Israel employs a "racist ideology" and inflicts "collective punishment" on the Palestinians.Similar language is found in the publications and statements of the radical Israel-based Alternative Information Center (AIC), which received 300,000 Krona ($42,000) in 2008, Palestinian-based Al Haq (SEK 3 million, as part of Diakonia's IHL program), and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (SEK 900,000). The central role of PHR-I officials in the campaigns accusing Israeli doctors of torture and other forms of heinous immorality, resulted in a decision by the Israel Medical Association to sever relations.

SIDA money also goes to the Women's Affairs Technical Committee (WATC), Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS), and Jerusalem Center for Women (JWC), which demonize Israel with the rhetoric of "apartheid," "ethnic cleansing," and "massacres." This language is repeated in NGO reports and and press statements, which are then reprinted in the media and amplified in the United Nations Human Rights Council.

NGOs supported by Sweden are also among the leaders in the effort to rewrite the history of the conflict in order to portray Israel as an "evil empire" and the world's worst violator of human rights. The Palme Center, run by the Social Democratic Party and leading trade unions, accuses Israel of "provok[ing] the al-Aqsa rising and the 'Second Intifada,'" and "disproportionate violence against civilians, unlawful executions and torture." The fighting in Gaza is also blamed solely on "the provocative Israeli occupation," rather than on the over 8,000 rockets launched by Hamas, or other forms of terror. The history of Arab rejectionism, the wars designed to "wipe Israel off the map", and the decades of massive Palestinian terror, are erased as part of this demonization.

Similarly, a Sabeel project [which is Christian], "The Nakba Memory, Reality and Beyond," used SIDA funding (SEK 540,000) "to commemorate the Nakba of 1948". Sabeel is a leader of the church divestment campaign, and its director, Naim Ateek, employs anti-Semitic themes and imagery in sermons promoting "Palestinian Liberation Theology."

Diakonia's "International Humanitarian Law" project and other Swedish government funding are behind the abuse of legal frameworks to demonize Israel. The "lawfare" movement uses courts in Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand to accuse Israelis of war crimes and similar charges. While all of the cases heard to date have been dismissed, the main purpose of this effort is to reinforce the incitement and hatred directed against Israelis through the rhetoric of morality and human rights. Using Swedish funding, lawfare cases are promoted by Al Haq and the Gaza-based Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), which, like other such groups, accuses Israelis of "war crimes" and "crimes against humanity."

When NGO Monitor sent the draft report to the Swedish embassy in Tel Aviv and government officials in Stockholm, they refused to comment or to engage in a discussion of the implications of these reprehensible activities. Perhaps now, after the Aftonbladet report has highlighted the results of this demonization, they will reconsider and stop this destructive misuse of public funds.

Gerald M. Steinberg heads NGO Monitor and is a professor of political science at Bar Ilan University

A screen capture showing the article in Aftonbladet, with a picture of a dead Palestinian next to a picture of a New Jersey rabbi.

Tuesday, 18 August 2009

"The enlightened Ramadan makes talk shows for the Islamic fascists of Tehran; without any twinges of conscious, since the Islamic republic is evidently his ideal republic. It is clear where this Dutch-subsidised bridge builder is building his bridges to. To the fascist Islamic regime of Ahmadinejad. [...] This club of liars and state rapists is who Tariq Ramadan, the Rotterdam builder of bridges, works for. Anyone who works for the immoral, extremely violent and anti-Semitic Iranian regime, not out of any necessity and certainly voluntarily, may not and cannot ever build bridges with Dutch money. And if Ramadan has unexpectedly built a small bridge, we should destroy it as quickly as possible. Because the other side of that bridge, the bank on which Islamic fascism thrives, must never be a Dutch polder." (Afshin Ellian)

The Rotterdam city government wants to break ties with the Muslim philosopher Tariq Ramadan, sources at city hall say.

Ramadan (46) has been an adviser on integration for the city of Rotterdam for two years. Recently, he has come under criticism because he hosts a weekly talk show on the Iranian TV station PressTV, which is financed by the Tehran regime.

The sources at Rotterdam city hall said the board of council executives and the mayor feel Ramadan has lost credibility as an adviser on integration issues. The decision was expected to be made official after a 2 p.m. board meeting on Tuesday.

Rotterdam hired the Egyptian-Swiss theologist to help 'bridge the divide' between the Muslim and non-Muslim communities. The city government also funds Ramadan's chair at the Erasmus University, where he has been a visiting professor of Identity and Citizenship since 2007.

Ramadan, whose principal message is that Islam and European culture do not have to be at odds, is a controversial figure. He already came under fire in the Netherlands in April because of statements that were allegedly homophobic and misogynistic.

The right-wing liberal party VVD dropped out of the local coalition after the city decided to extend Ramadan's contract for another two years. An investigation commissioned by the city had come to the conclusion that the allegations against Ramadan were unfounded.

The Rotterdam city government was surprised last week when it learned about Ramadan's cooperation with the Iranian TV channel. Three local opposition parties immediately called for his resignation, as did the ruling Christian democrats, CDA, in the Dutch parliament.

Ramadan defended his position in a letter to NRC Handelsblad on Tuesday saying: "The present controversy says far more about the alarming state of politics in the Netherlands than about my person."

Monday, 17 August 2009

"Langer was honored not despite her anti-Israeli invective, but precisely because of it. More precisely, it shows that government officials were fully aware of what author Ralph Giordano has called Langer’s encouragement of the "widespread" tendency in Germany to "unload the burden of one’s own guilt via criticism of Israel."

Last month, Germany awarded one of its highest honors, the "Federal Merit Cross, First Class," to the Israeli lawyer and political activist Felicia Langer. The Merit Cross is awarded by the German president, currently Horst Köhler, for "special contributions to the Federal Republic of Germany." A former member of the Central Committee of the Israeli Communist Party, Langer is known in Germany, above all, as a ferocious critic of Israel. She has lived in Germany since 1990.

By her own account, Langer left Israel out of protest and she has said that she made "a politically conscious choice for Germany … because I understood with what brutality and sophistication Israel was exploiting the Germans’ guilt." In numerous public statements in books, lectures, and interviews, she has, among other things, called for war-crimes trials against Israeli leaders, dismissed Palestinian suicide bombings as the consequence of "suicidal desperation," and endorsed the charge that Israelis were behaving like a "master race." Coy comparisons of Israel to Nazi Germany are indeed a regular part of Langer’s repertoire. (For a selection of translated quotes, see here.)

The news of Langer’s award has prompted incredulous reactions from both Israeli officials and officials of Germany’s leading Jewish organization, the publicly-funded Central Council of Jews in Germany. It has also prompted other Jewish recipients of the Merit Cross, in both Germany and Israel, to threaten to return their awards in protest if Langer’s award is not rescinded. [...]

Thus, we now know that Langer was nominated for the award by none other than Evelyn Hecht-Galinski. (Hecht-Galinski mentions this fact in a letter that appeared in the July 23 edition of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.) Now, as it so happens, Hecht-Galinski is herself well-known in Germany as an especially virulent critic of Israel. Indeed, this and the fact that she is the daughter of one of the leading figures of Germany’s small post-war Jewish community are, in effect, the only things for which she is known. Like Langer, Hecht-Galinski does not shy away from comparisons of Israel to Nazi Germany. Only last year, she was involved in a highly publicized dispute with the journalist Henryk Broder after Broder accused her of "specializing" in a sort of "anti-Semitic anti-Zionism." (On that controversy, see my contemporaneous report here.)

In the meanwhile, moreover, the full text of the speech given in Langer’s honor at the award ceremony has been made available. Langer is a resident of Tübingen in the German state of Baden-Württemberg and the ceremony was held in Stuttgart, the state capital. Lieutenant Governor (or "Staatssekretär") Hubert Wicker presented the award. Responding to the controversy over Langer’s award, a spokesperson for the state government has insisted that Langer was honored "for her humanitarian contributions, independently of political, ideological or religious motivations" and her "efforts to help persons in need regardless of nationality or religion" (source: Spiegel-Online).

But the text of Wicker’s award speech clearly reveals that Langer was honored not despite her anti-Israeli invective, but precisely because of it. More precisely, it shows that government officials were fully aware of what author Ralph Giordano has called Langer’s encouragement of the "widespread" tendency in Germany to "unload the burden of one’s own guilt via criticism of Israel." Giordano, who has written numerous books on the Third Reich and Germany’s troubled relation to its Nazi past, is one of the Merit Cross recipients who has threatened to return his award. Describing Langer’s professional and political activities in Israel, Wicker told her:

Moved by the treatment of the Palestinians after the Six Day War as well as since the occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, you saw it henceforth as your task to defend the underprivileged in Israel and in the neighboring occupied territories. …For 23 years you fought against expropriations, the destruction of homes and deportations.Your clients informed you about torture, forced confessions, deportations in violation of international law, and punishments resembling clan-liability such as the tearing down of suspects’ houses.In those trying times, you accomplished much. …

Note the two references in quick succession to "deportations," an idiom that clearly suggests that Israelis are guilty of "Nazi-like" crimes. The reference to "punishments resembling clan-liability" [sippenhaftähnliche Bestrafungen] likewise carries a strong whiff of the Third Reich. "Sippenhaft" is the practice of punishing family members for an individual’s alleged crimes. The Nazis were notorious for employing this form of punishment: notably, against members of the resistance in the occupied territories.

The full import of these remarks, moreover, can only be appreciated on the background of Wicker’s previous remarks on Langer’s childhood and family history. Langer was born in Poland in 1930 and she is reported to have fled to the Soviet Union with her family in 1939 following the German invasion. (At the time, roughly half of Polish territory was, in any case, directly annexed to the Soviet Union.) She thus in fact escaped persecution, but she has referred to herself, nonetheless, as an "indirect" Holocaust survivor, “since directly my husband is a survivor.” (For the full quote and source, see here.)

Wicker’s speech likewise, in effect, elevates Langer to the status of an "indirect" Holocaust survivor:

None of us who were born after the War can properly appreciate the human suffering and decades-long grief that have marked your life.The only thing that remains for us today is to bow down in respect before the victims and the obligation to do everything we can so that this sort of thing [Derartiges] never happens again.

This sort of thing?! But Wicker’s description of Israeli treatment of the Palestinians clearly suggests that "this sort of thing" is happening again — namely, in the Middle East. Employing precisely the same convoluted logic as Wicker, Felicia Langer has in fact explicitly called on Germany to intervene in the Middle East conflict on behalf of the Palestinians. "Germans," she has said, “have not only the right, but the obligation, to intervene. Precisely because they kept silent once before." (For full quote and source, see here.)

The text of Wicker’s award speech has been published on the pro-Palestinian German website Das Palästina Portal. The revealing motto of the site is "Never Again - No One - Nowhere." The obvious implication is that something like the Holocaust is now happening again ("Never Again") - not in Europe, but in the Middle East ("Nowhere") and not to Jews, but to Palestinians ("No One"). In the view of Das Palästina Portal and Felicia Langer, the Jews have become the perpetrators. Hubert Wicker and the government of Baden-Württemberg evidently share this assessment. Does German President Horst Köhler agree?

Sunday, 16 August 2009

"The post questions how Trettebergstuen, a secular, female homosexual, can single out for criticism the one state in the Middle East which is the most tolerant of secular, female homosexuals like herself."

Imagine that an Israeli politician reads an Israeli blog and gets the impression that she is being persecuted by a Norwegian newspaper. Imagine that the Israeli politician proceeds to alert Israel of this erroneous conclusion through social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook. Now picture how Norwegians, watching all of this, would react. Would they not be amused? Would they not perhaps suggest that the Israeli politician was being just a tad paranoid about the "persecuted by Norwegians" thing, and would not such a suggestion be legitimate? Oh yes. Yet it is exactly this which has happened, except the other way around.

Yesterday Labor parlamentarian Annette Trettebergstuen read this post [Secular, gay politician boycotts Jerusalem gay pride], here on NIJ. The post questions how Trettebergstuen, a secular, female homosexual, can single out for criticism the one state in the Middle East which is the most tolerant of secular, female homosexuals like herself. Unfortunately Trettebergstuen’s interpretation of the post led her to conclude that some "Israeli newspaper" was slamming her for her sexual preferences. Subsequently the politician proceeded to post her thoughts on the matter on Twitter, whereupon this site immediately published a post alerting to the facts of the matter. By then, in a flurry of social networking, Trettebergstuen had already moved on to Facebook where she repeated her mistaken suspicion of being targeted by "an Israeli newspaper".

Below we see how Trettebergstuen and someone claiming to be Mads Larsen, author of the novel "Pornopung" (Shaved male genitalia) joke about the imagined "Israeli newspaper".

If this site inadvertently led Trettebergstuen to believe that she was being written about by a Israeli newspaper – our sincere apologies. If however Trettebergstuen just jumped at the opportunity of accusing Israel of something nasty, or just was not concentrating very well while she read – then the apology is for her to make. We do need to maintain certain standards here. After all, Trettebergstuen is a member of Parliament’s Foreign Affairs committe (see textbox beneath photograph).

"Norwegian journalists keep close tabs on Norwegian politicians. From time to time Norwegian journalists also visit this site. Yet no newspaper has picked up on Annette Trettebergstuen’s made-up story about the "Israeli newspaper". Hopefully, one will do so tomorrow.The reason this story is important is that it serves as an illustration of how easy it is to make erroneous allegations against Israel. Bad news about Israel is believable because Israel itself is bad. And how do we know that Israel is bad? Well, because we read bad news about Israel all the time. And why do we read so much bad news about Israel? Well obviously, it’s because Israel is just so dreadfully bad. And how do we know that Israel is so bad?"

"This site has no problems with homosexuality. To the contrary, this site applauds homosexuality. Regions with a high proportion of gays prosper. Regions with low tolerance levels of homosexuality tend to fail. Besides, no homosexual ever threw a molotov cocktail at us. This site has a problem with those segments of society which attribute the origin of all their troubles to someone else, in this case Israel, just because it is convenient and the zeitgeist allows for it. A society at perfect health just does not behave like this.Annette, we are not slamming your sexuality. We are bemoaning the state of the Norwegian Middle East debate and how people are conditioned to react. And we are not an Israeli newspaper, we’re a Norwegian blog."

Friday, 14 August 2009

A journalist from Holland who linked Jews to the recent outbreak of a flu pandemic drew heavy criticism from a prominent Dutch Jewish organization this week, which said her claim was tantamount to an anti-Semitic blood libel. Holland's largest daily, De Telegraaf, last week printed an interview with Desiree Rover, 61, who proposed the bird flu pandemic, caused by the virus H5N1, was part of an international conspiracy to reduce the world's population. (Swine flu, or H1N1, is a related virus.)

Rover is quoted saying the conspiracy can be traced back to descendants of the Khazars in the Caucasus believed to have converted to Judaism 1,200 years ago. De Telegraaf quotes her saying these descendants are now "praying to another god; Lucifer, Satan or however you want to call him" and "are called Rockefeller, Rothschild, Brzezinski and Kissinger."

Ronny Naftaniel, who heads the Center for Information and Documentation on Israel (CIDI) - an local anti-Semitism watchdog - said this is the first time he has heard such claims from Rover, adding that her words suggest that "she does not seem to be right in her head." Tales of Jews spreading disease "is nothing new," he told Haaretz, "and stories of Jews poisoning wells are known from many centuries ago, and her words are giving rise to that anti-Semitism." CIDI, he added, will look into the possibility of lodging a formal complaint against Rover, though no decision has been made.

Thursday, 13 August 2009

"In his essay, Dr Nicholas Kollerstrom argues that the alleged massacre of Jewish people by gassing during World War II was scientifically impossible. The distinguished academic was dismissed on April 22, 2008 without any explanation and a Holocaust conference held on 16-18 May in Berlin refused his article and warned that he would be arrested if he attended the conference and presented his essay. The West punishes people for their scientific research on Holocaust but the same Western countries allow insults to prophets and religious beliefs…" (PressTV)

Dutch site ScienceGuide reveals that Tariq Ramadan has his own show "Islam & Life" on Iranian broadcaster PressTV. On his show Ramadan discusses various social and political issues from an Islamic point of view. According to PressTV this is "A weekly show presented by Tariq Ramadan on the world's fastest growing religion and the daily challenges faced by its followers especially in the West."

The most recent show, for example, was about Islam and art. Recent shows discussed Islam and student involvement, Changing Europe and Islam, Obama and the Muslim world, Islam and science, and the concept of freedom in Islam. All shows are available online.

ScienceGuide reports that Ramadan is joined on his show by British parliament member George Galloway, who was kicked out of the Labour Party for his support of Saddam Hussein, as political commentator.

Dr. Nicholas Kollerstrom, a former astronomer at University College London, who was fired for Holocaust denial, is also on the show. Kollerstrom wrote: "Let us hope the schoolchildren visitors are properly taught about the elegant swimming-pool at Auschwitz, built by the inmates, who would sunbathe there on Saturday and Sunday afternoons while watching the water-polo matches; and shown the paintings from its art class, which still exist; and told about the camp library which had some 45,000 volumes for inmates to choose from, plus a range of periodicals; and the six camp orchestras at Auschwitz/Birkenau, its theatrical performances, including a children’s opera, the weekly camp cinema, and even the special brothel established there."

PressTV says: "In his essay, Dr Nicholas Kollerstrom argues that the alleged massacre of Jewish people by gassing during World War II was scientifically impossible. The distinguished academic was dismissed on April 22, 2008 without any explanation and a Holocaust conference held on 16-18 May in Berlin refused his article and warned that he would be arrested if he attended the conference and presented his essay. The West punishes people for their scientific research on Holocaust but the same Western countries allow insults to prophets and religious beliefs…"

PressTV is fully paid for by the Iranian government. After the recent presidential elections that station became so militant that a British presenter resigned. Nick Ferrari said at the beginning of July: "I imagine they’ve been told what to do, and I can’t reconcile that with working there."

Professor Ramadan continued with his program in the weeks after the election, without any objection or protest against the course of events. ScienceGuide says this is remarkable given that the Iranian government made arrests on university campuses and among colleagues of Ramadan. Ramadan works for the city of Rotterdam as a 'bridge-builder' in the framework of the 'Islam-debates' that the city organizes. Following this report, CDA (Christian-Democratic Appeal) parliament members Jan Jacob van Dijk and Mirjam Sterk turned with questions to the Dutch government, saying Ramadan should not continue as integration advisor to the Rotterdam municipality. Van Dijk says that this is not just a local Rotterdam issue since professor Ramadan is considered a very influential opinion leader in international media and at important universities such as Oxford. The parliament and government have a responsibility towards the content and credibility of the integration debate.

Wednesday, 12 August 2009

"We plan to add to the claim any Israeli who holds a European passport and who lives within terrorist-rocket range. The EU grants hundreds of millions of euros a year in aid to Gaza, and it is inconceivable that European citizens should be harmed by money supplied by the EU. It's time that the EU takes responsibility." (Mordechai Tzivin)Source: article by Bruno Waterfield in the Daily Telegraph

An Israeli man is mounting a landmark legal challenge to demand European Union compensation for damages caused by Hamas rocket attacks on his home.

Israeli and Belgian lawyers acting for Eyal Katorza, who is also a French citizen, are preparing a legal case demanding that the EU does more to protect the 300,000 Europeans living in Israel.

Legal documents, seen by The Daily Telegraph, have accused the EU of indirectly funding Palestinian terrorism because of a failure to "prevent the misuse of European funds by non-profit organisations which use these funds to finance terrorism". [Full text of draft legal complaint in Eyal Katorza case]

Mr Katorza has demanded EU "reparations for lost job income, reparations for physical and psychological damages, reparations for property damages, monies for reinforced buildings against missiles or any other military projectiles".

The dual French-Israeli citizen, from Sderot in Israel's Negev region, has lost his job and family business because of Qassam rocket attacks launched from the Gaza strip by Hamas.

His lawyers have cited clauses in the EU Treaties that offer protection to Europeans even while they are living abroad.

Mordechai Tzivin, Mr Katorza's Israeli lawyer, has appealed to other EU-Israeli citizens to join the action, to be launched later this week, a call that has been supported by the European Citizens Council in Israel.

"We plan to add to the claim any Israeli who holds a European passport and who lives within terrorist-rocket range," he said.

"The EU grants hundreds of millions of euros a year in aid to Gaza, and it is inconceivable that European citizens should be harmed by money supplied by the EU. It's time that the EU takes responsibility."

Tuesday, 11 August 2009

"Europe believes in peace and reconciliation, in a two-state solution with a non-violent path to that solution. It would indeed be strange if European money were going to an NGO headed by an individual who both rejects a two-state solution, and who justifies terrorism." (Mark Regev)

The Spanish government is paying for 42 people to come here and help rebuild two Palestinian homes that Israel deemed illegal and tore down in Anata in northeast Jerusalem, according to the director of the organization in charge of the project.

Jeff Halper, the director of the Israel Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD), which is holding its seventh annual summer "rebuilding camp," said volunteers from all over Europe, Latin America, Spain, the United States, South Africa, Asia, and Australia are currently in the country to rebuild two homes demolished in Anata.

"In particular, there are about 42 people from Spain in the camp, and the Spanish government is funding the camp again this year. They have paid for the 42 tickets of young people to come to the work camp, so that is pretty interesting that governments are starting to encourage people to come and resist the occupation," Halper told The Jerusalem Post.

The Spanish Foreign Ministry's agency for international development cooperation, Aecid, allocated some €80,000 in 2009 to ICAHD. In addition, it allocated €80,000 this year for Breaking the Silence, €100,000 for the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, and has promised to allocate €70,000 for Rabbis for Human Rights.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's spokesman Mark Regev slammed the involvement of European governments in the Anata project. "Europe believes in peace and reconciliation, in a two-state solution with a non-violent path to that solution," he said. "It would indeed be strange if European money were going to an NGO headed by an individual who both rejects a two-state solution, and who justifies terrorism." Regev was referring to past comments and writings by Halper, a veteran activist on the extreme Left.

One Israeli-based Spanish diplomat, who did not know the details of the camp, had no comment on the matter. He said that while there were discussions with Israel following Jerusalem Post revelations last month that Spain was helping to fund Breaking the Silence, Spain did not receive any formal request from Israel to stop funding that organization or any other NGO.

Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, who did not know about the ICAHD summer camp, said that Israel respected "all countries, especially democracies, and we expect them to respect us. "Israel is a very strong democracy, with a democratic tradition - a strong one - with the rule of law and independence of the judicial branch. NGOs are entitled to have their agendas, but when they cross the line into domestic issues, into internal political issues, it is a dangerous line." [...]

Monday, 10 August 2009

"No one spoke of a Palestinian state; there was no "Palestinian people." Many legal experts accepted Israel's right to "occupy" and settle its historic homeland, because the areas had been illegally occupied by invading Arab countries since 1948. One organization, however - the International Committee of the Red Cross - disagreed."

In 1967, under attack, Israel struck back and conquered the Golan Heights from Syria, the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip from Egypt, and Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem (the West Bank) from Jordan. Israel had been threatened with a second Holocaust, and few questioned its actions. No one spoke of a Palestinian state; there was no "Palestinian people."

Many legal experts accepted Israel's right to "occupy" and settle its historic homeland, because the areas had been illegally occupied by invading Arab countries since 1948. One organization, however - the International Committee of the Red Cross - disagreed.

Meeting secretly in the early 1970s in Geneva, the ICRC determined that Israel was in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Based on the Hague Convention, GC IV was drawn up after World War II to protect innocent civilians and restrict brutal occupations. Unilaterally, the ICRC turned it into a weapon to delegitimize and demonize Israel.

As far as is known, the ICRC did not rely on any legal precedents; it made up "the law." Judge and jury, its decisions lacked the pretense of due process. Since all decisions and protocols of the ICRC in this matter are closed, even the identities of the people involved are secret. And there is no appeal. Without transparency or judicial ethics, ICRC rulings became "international law." Its condemnations of Israel provide the basis for accusing Israel of "illegal occupation" of all territory conquered in 1967.

Although most of the international community, its NGOs and institutions accept the authority of the ICRC and other institutions, such as the International Court of Justice, as sole arbiters of what is "legal," or not, it's strange that some Israeli politicians and jurists cannot defend Israel's legal claim to the territories. And Israel's case is strong.

Adopted in 1945, the UN Charter (Article 80) states: "...nothing in this Chapter shall be construed in or of itself to alter in any manner the rights whatsoever of any states or any peoples or the terms of existing international instruments to which members of the United Nations may respectively be parties." This means that the designation of "Palestine" as a "Jewish National Home," incorporated in the British Mandate and established by international agreements adopted by the League of Nations and US Congress, guarantees Israel's sovereign rights in this area. All Jewish settlement, therefore, was and is legal.

Two years later, amid growing civil war, the UN proposed a division of Palestine between Jews and Arabs - changing the terms of the Mandate; the Jews accepted, the Arabs launched a war of extermination.

When Britain ended the Mandate and left, the State of Israel was proclaimed and local mobs who had been attacking Jews for years were joined by five Arab armies. The armistice in 1949 - for Jews, independence, for Arabs, nakba (tragedy) - did not result in a Palestinian state, because the Arabs did not want it. Arab leaders never accepted Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state - most refuse to do so today.

Pressured by Russia and the Arab states, the Security Council adopted Resolution 242, which spoke of Israel's military withdrawal from some - not all - of these conquered territories in the context of a final peace agreement. The question of sovereignty remained elusive and problematic.

Israel's political echelon and Supreme Court refrained from asserting full sovereignty over the newly acquired areas but, in the absence of any reciprocal gestures, agreed to allow Jews to return to Jerusalem's Old City and Gush Etzion, where a flourishing group of settlements had been wiped out in 1947. Striking a compromise, it allowed the building of Kiryat Arba, near Hebron, where the Jewish community had been wiped out in Arab riots of 1929; Jews were permitted to pray at the Cave of Machpela, an ancient building containing the tombs of Jewish patriarchs and matriarchs, for the first time in 700 years.

Although free to leave UNRWA refugee camps, with new opportunities and challenges, Palestinians did not call for statehood or peace with Israel. The PLO, which claimed to represent Palestinians, was dedicated to terrorism, not nation-building.

For some, this is not a "legal" issue, but a moral one: Jews should not rule over ("occupy") others. So Israel withdrew unilaterally from nearly all "Palestinian" cities, towns and villages and turned over vast tracts of land to the PA/PLO as part of the Oslo Accords in 1994 and a few years later in the Wye and Hebron agreements.

When Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip, it became a bastion of Hamas. "Land for peace" in reality means "land for terrorism." Influenced by these events, incited by Islamists, encouraged by Israeli concessions and seeking to undermine the state, Israeli Arabs identify as "Palestinians," demanding an end to "Jewish occupation" and discrimination, and the destruction of the state itself.

Others contend that "Israel's Jewish and democratic" nature will be threatened if it continues to include large numbers of Arabs who are not loyal and do not identify with the state. But nearly all "Palestinians" live under PA, not Israeli rule. The dispute now, therefore, is over territory, not people.

Predictions of an "Arab demographic time bomb" have not proven realistic or accurate. Moreover, allowing Arab residents full civil and humanitarian rights, without political rights, as exist in most other countries, could be considered in conjunction with resettling Arab "refugees" in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, etc., dismantling UNRWA camps and ending terrorism and incitement against Israel.

That a second (or third) Arab Palestinian state would be an existential threat to Israel seems obvious. "Land for peace" has failed. Why then promote it?

Sunday, 9 August 2009

"Sweden is the Scandinavian country where anti-Semitism is thriving, where there is a scathing and poisonous anti-Israelism and demonization of Israel. This trend, which has its beginning at the end of the 1960s in the days of the radical Prime Minister Olof Palme, continued into the days of those who followed him and, at times it even intensified. Sweden, a seemingly secular country, has a very active partner in these negative trends - the Lutheran Church. How strange that this church runs the "Swedish Theological Center" in Beit Tavor on "The Street of the Prophets" in Jerusalem, where the study plan, the atmosphere and its leaders are so anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian." Source: Norway, Israel and the Jews blog

Here is a book review by Moshe Yegar, a former Israeli ambassador to Sweden, printed in Israel Today, a scholarly journal.

SwedenThe Scandinavian countries - Sweden, Norway, Denmark - as well as Finland enjoy a very positive image in the world. Many people are convinced that these democratic countries aim for peace, that their policies are based on justice, concern for human rights and moral humanitarian considerations, and that they help the underprivileged of the world as well as those suffering in regimes of oppression. Apparently the first person to question this, at least in regard to Sweden, was the British researcher, Professor Roland Huntford, of Cambridge University. In 1972 he published a profound study of the Swedish regime under the Social-Democratic Party, which has ruled the country since the early 1930s till now, with short interruptions. The title of his book, The New Totalitarians, as well as it contents, is very informative.

The name of the book before us now, Behind the Humanitarian Mask, and its content as well, are equally instructive. Its editor Dr Manfred Gerstenfeld is one of the most outstanding experts on Western anti-Semitism today. This is the fourteenth book he has written or edited, either alone or with partners. This time he has concentrated on the three Scandinavian countries and Finland, with an interesting chapter on Iceland.

It is no surprise that this book reveals that Sweden is the Scandinavian country where anti-Semitism is thriving, where there is a scathing and poisonous anti-Israelism and demonization of Israel. This trend, which has its beginning at the end of the 1960s in the days of the radical Prime Minister Olof Palme, continued into the days of those who followed him and, at times it even intensified. Sweden, a seemingly secular country, has a very active partner in these negative trends - the Lutheran Church. How strange that this church runs the "Swedish Theological Center" in Beit Tavor on "The Street of the Prophets" in Jerusalem, where the study plan, the atmosphere and its leaders are so anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian.

Besides the government itself, there are many important groups within the ruling Social-Democratic party, as well as other active Leftists and journalists who are responsible for the anti-Semitic activity and the anti-Israeli demonization propaganda in Sweden. They all hide behind a self-righteous appearance, hypocritical declarations about concern for human rights and anti-Semitic hypocrisy expressed as moral superiority. These trends, sometimes inconsistent, go hand in hand in Sweden as well as in the neighboring countries. Since outward anti-Semitism is not very fashionable in the world today, since the Nazi regime in Europe, these poisonous ideas are masked as anti-Zionist or anti-Israel, and are much more acceptable today in Leftist circles, as well as in the Right, among the Lutheran clergy, academics and media personalities. All of these have been active in the last generation, together with fundamentalist Muslim clergy within the ever growing Muslim communities, which are strongly involved in promoting Islamic anti-Semitism.

One prominent example of typical hypocritical Swedish policy is its attitude toward the fate of Raoul Wallenberg, the greatest of the righteous Gentiles. As is well known, he was active in Budapest at the end of the Second World War and succeeded in saving many thousands of Jews. With him was a young Swedish diplomat named Per Anger. After the war Anger returned to Stockholm and continued to work in the foreign service until his retirement. He devoted many years to researching the fate of Wallenberg and to attempt to free him from the Soviets. After he retired, he published a book - a sharp and serious accusation of his government - in which he brought out details and proof that Wallenberg had been knowingly abandoned by the governments of Sweden throughout the years, due to their fear of the Soviets. For many years Sweden did nothing to bring about Wallenberg’s release or to find out what had happened to him. A major role in this was played by the well-known Swedish ambassador Gunnar Jarring, (who is best known in Israel because of his UN peace mission to the Middle East) during his term as Sweden’s ambassador to Moscow. Only around 1990, at the time of the disintegration of the Soviet Union, did Sweden begin to think of Wallenberg as an asset, to memorialize him, to turn him into a national hero and to recognize his work, as if that had been an official Swedish undertaking.

The successive governments of Sweden have contributed their share to the anti-Israel atmosphere by expressing anti-Israeli ideas in various spheres, and by giving money to Palestinian groups, through under-cover organizations and also up-front organizations. Part of this financial aid has been used for anti-Israeli propaganda, and perhaps even worse than that.

Included in the book is a very interesting interview with Zvi Mazel, who was Israel’s ambassador in Stockholm between December 2002 and April 2004. Mazel tells how he found a country whose hate for Israel is nurtured by ruling groups, which has an extremely hostile press, and which tends to preach morality in a superior righteous and boastful tone. He paints a picture which is not known to many. Dr. Mikael Tossavainen, a Swedish historian, publishes a study of Arab and Muslim anti-Semitism in Sweden, including acts of violence against Jews, which have occurred as a result of the large Muslim immigration.

In his article, Professor Gerald Steinberg of Bar-Ilan University tells of the plots of the Swedish Agency for Foreign Aid, a branch of the Swedish Foreign Office, which distributes general financial support to Palestinian organizations which, under the mask of humanitarian aid, is used for anti-Israeli activities. These are official Swedish actions. It is hard to understand how the Government of Israel seems to be totally indifferent to these activities and does not find a way to react. In view of what has been said till now, it is not difficult to understand how Sweden refused to bring Nazi criminals to trial, and even offered them immunity. Among them are Swedes who had volunteered for the SS, just as in Norway and Denmark, and there were many thousands of such volunteers.

NorwayThe situation is not much different in Norway, another country which enjoys a very positive image in the world, but which also stands out in the level of anti-Semitism and anti-Israelism in the country, among the same types of groups as in Sweden, including government ministers, heads of the Lutheran church, trade unions, academics, etc. A particular Norwegian "specialty" is publishing anti-Semitic cartoons in the manner of the Nazi Stürmer. One article in the book deals with this issue. The radicalization of the extreme anti-Israelism stood out especially during the First Lebanon War (1982-1984), and has continued till now. There was no other country in the West where Israel was attacked - in an anti-Semitic way - so strongly as in Norway and its media. Here too there is a strong connection between extreme Leftist groups and Muslim groups in the distribution of anti-Semitic propaganda material. And to these we can also add neo-Nazi groups and Lutheran clergy.

DenmarkIn Denmark as well there are waves of the "new" anti-Semitism and hatred of Zionism and Israel amongst the same groups, although there it seems to be a bit less malicious. Everyone remembers to compliment the Danes for good work during the Second World War and for their saving 7,000 Jews who were transferred in small boats to the Swedish coast in October 1943. It is only in the last decade that some very problematic and unpleasant facts hitherto unknown regarding the behaviour of Denmark during that period have come to light, including the degree of its cooperation with the Nazis. Facts about handing Jews over to the Nazis, as well as other unpleasant information about the treatment of Jewish refugees, have been uncovered. This subject is covered in this book in a special article written by two Danish researchers.

Another fact unknown until now is that about 6,000 Danish volunteers fought in SS units and even participated in the murder of Jews in eastern Galicia, together with Norwegian and Swedish volunteers. Since the War the governments of Denmark have done their best to keep this information secret, as well as the story of the cooperation between Danish food industries with contractor companies which worked for the German army, using slave labour and of course benefitting financially.

In another article negative information about the "white buses" affair is brought to light, as the Swedish Count Folke Bernadotte was connected to this. The first to expose this issue was the British historian Hugh Trevor-Roper, who was criticized for publishing his findings, yet he was revealing the truth. The great wonder was how Yad VaShem fell into this Swedish propaganda trap and erected a "white bus" on its premises. The management of Yad VaShem should have known that there are many question marks surrounding this issue.

FinlandLittle is known about Finland’s behaviour during the Second World War. Finland has won great sympathy in the world, including from Jews, due to the "White War" she fought so valiantly against the Red Army, and because her leader, Marshall Gustaf Emil Mannerheim did not allow the Jewish-Finnish soldiers to be harmed. There were those in his government who wanted to hand them over to the Nazis. But Finland did also give up Jews to the Gestapo, especially Jewish soldiers in the Red Army who were taken prisoner. In a short essay, Professor Steinberg gives illustrative details of significant current Finnish financial help to Palestinian organizations, supposedly for humanitarian purposes, but actually it goes to less honourable use, especially anti-Israeli propaganda, much like the financial support from Sweden, Norway and Denmark (according to various rumors there are some organizations in Israel generally referred to as the "Peace Camp" which are also benefitting from these funds - a subject worthy of examination).

IcelandThe editor of this book, Dr Gerstenfeld, has done well in adding a very interesting article on Iceland, although this is an unusual issue and Iceland cannot be put in the same category as the other Scandinavian countries. This article examines the history of anti-Semitism in Iceland - an island where Jews arrived only in the 1930s- from 1625 till 2004. We have learned from other countries that Jews don’t have to be present in a place in order for anti-Semitism to develop. Anti-Semitism and anti-Semites existed in Iceland long before the arrival of a few Jews. The authorities of the island always made it difficult for any Jews who wished to settle there. It is hard to believe, but even in Iceland, before the Second World War, there was a small Nazi party. And several volunteers from Iceland also found their way into service in the SS. After the war, even in Iceland there were Holocaust deniers and those who distributed anti-Israel propaganda. And now, here we have an irony of history - the president of Iceland is married to an Israeli woman - Dorit Moussayef!

Dr Gerstenfeld has gathered very valuable material for this which must be brought to the attention of a wide audience. It is especially important that this book be distributed, as widely as possible, in the Scandinavian countries themselves. It would be good for those communities to see this book as the mirror it is, to see their picture without a mask, and perhaps this could lead to the birth of some positive groups who will be strong enough to bring about change.

Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme (2008)

"We must be wakeful for a new anti-Semitism, sometimes too easy trivialized. We must be wakeful for a new anti-Zionism that is a hidden anti-Semitism that in reality has not accepted the existence of the state of Israel, even sixty years after its foundation. Europe cannot turn its back on Israel. For Israel is linked to the history of Europe, for more than one reason. We cannot speak about the foundation of the Jewish State without mentioning the Holocaust. There is more, the dream of a new Eretz Yisrael was born in Europe, in the hearts and minds of Theodor Herzl and his followers in the 19th century. And since many centuries, in many thousands of European Jewish households, Pesach, the Jewish feast of Easter, ends with the wish: "Next year in Jerusalem!""..........................................

Charles-Joseph, Prince de Ligne (1801)

"It seems to me that this 1800-year-old anger has lasted long enough."